The Leaning Caveman

 
 
If you're anything like me, you've probably made a resolution or two this new year even if you don't want to admit it to anyone else.  One of my resolutions is to finally hit my target weight and keep it there.  Of course when you make a resolution that involves dieting, sensory acuity kicks in and then suddenly you notice every since ad message that involves losing weight.  I swear that in the past two weeks I have literally seen 1,000 pieces of advertising between TV, Internet and print.

One of them that has really caught my attention though is the so-called sprinkle diet which is put out by this company called Sensa.  Apparently this neurologist has determined that if he can adequately manipulate your senses of taste and smell then you'll reach a point of satiety more quickly and lose weight.  To that end he has two powders (one for savory and one for sweet) that you sprinkle onto whatever it is that you going to eat.  No other change required.

In a double blind study with 2630 participants, the Sensa users lost an average of 30.6 pound in six months!  This compares to the placebo group that lost only 2 pounds.  I say that is impressive.  Which leads to our experiment; over the next 2 months I am going to try sprinkling, track it here and see what it does. Is it for real?  Is it a scam?  I have no idea but we're certai 
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In the last post on the topic, we laid out the Ranger Challenge and what the criteria for success was going to be.  For those of you that slept through, the goal is to meet or beat the following:
  • 80 pushups in two minutes
  • 80 situps in two minutes
  • 12 chin ups 
  • 2 miles in under 14:30
Knowing full well that I probably wasn't going to hit these numbers I took a few weeks to 'practice' so that I could at least try to show up.  Here are my initial results.
  • 42 pushups
  • 50 situps
  • 4 chin ups
  • run in 19:50
Not sure how good or bad that is for someone that is rapidly nearing the big 4-0 but I know I can do better.  The plan so far to improve my performance is to: 
  1. Start running intervals in order to increase speed
  2. Perform 15 chin ups every other day in a pyramid to failure format with one minute rest in between sets.  (i.e. failure at 4, failure at 3, failure at 3, failure at 2, failure at 2, failure at 1)
  3. Use similar pyramid approaches for situps and pushups.  I'm still cooking up the exact formulation.
  4. Perform the test of all pieces no more often than once every two weeks.
  5. Lather, rinse, repeat.


Thinking of joining the challenge?  Leave a comment and let us know your initial scores.
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I hate to admit that this particular caveman has gotten a bit complacent. I've been bopping along through the holidays, missing workouts and making excuses along the lines of "oh come on Halloween/Christmas/Thanksgiving/Flag Day/whatever only comes once a year" as I stuff ridiculous amounts of starchy death treats into my mouth.  Fortunately I saw the error of my ways before it caught up with me on the scale but after giving myself a fitness test this morning, I am clear how far I've fallen.  So what to do?  I could merely get back on the horse and continue with the status quo but this seems like a great opportunity to kick it up a notch (or five) so here's the plan.  I am instituting what I am labeling "The Ranger Fitness Challenge."  Here's what it entails:
  • Pushups- Greater than 80 in 2 minutes
  • Situps- Greater than 80 in 2 minutes
  • Chinups- 12 or more (untimed)
  • 2 Mile run- 13 minutes or less
Here are the ground rules which I am borrowing from Uncle Sam.  If you touch the ground during pushups, you're done.  If you release from the bar during chinups, you're done.  If you touch the ground during chinups, you're done.  No kipping.

For those of you that are into military type things, these are the standards for Ranger candidates at the conclusion for Phase I training in Ft. Benning.
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Ok so it's been entirely too long since I've updated the site.  Frankly, real life has been entirely too good to spend a lot of time online.  But to get back in the throes of blogging, I'm going to kick it off with a list that's sure to bring out the caveman/woman/child in all of you.  Here's my list of five things to do this summer:
  1. Climb a mountain (or five).  I'm lucky enough to live in Colorado which means that there is a wide array of mountains literally within 90 minutes of my house.  We kicked off the summer with a little 7900' one called Plymouth Mountain.  In the next weekend or two, we're going to finally do Mt. Beirstadt and Mt. Evans in the same day.
  2. Go down a slide, literally.  Nothing like the water park to bring out the kid in all of us.  It doesn't matter if you're in a tube, on a mat or just laying on your back, there's nothing quite like having the water move you along.  I can just see our caveman ancestors floating down streams trying to grab fish.
  3. Walk on water!?!  Try stand up paddleboarding (SUP for short).  It's a great upper body workout and an absolute blast.  At it's essence you are standing on a longboard and rowing with an extended oar.  After getting the basics down, look for some waves and do a bit of surfing.  The gentle rocker of the longboard makes it pretty simple and you use the oar as a rudder.  Kupaianaha dude!
  4. Taste both oceans in one season.  Break out of the standard one week vacation trap and shake it up a little.  Take two vacations while work is slow.  Don't have the days? Fine.  Take two extended weekends and visit each coast.  I can tell you that the Atlantic and Pacific taste completely different and the ability to bend the time space continuum is one of the few major advantages that we have over the caveman.
  5. Go for a walk at night. I for one prefer to do this with a loved one but can see where others may enjoy the solitude.  Nevertheless, get outside and savor the warm night air during the one season that you don't need a jacket or a sweater to be out after dark.  People don't experience the dark enough anymore and are completely neglecting the evolutionary gift of the rods that we have in our eyes.  Use them people.

 
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I have a confession to make; aside from walking I have been slacking off on my exercise routine aside from walking.  As much as I enjoy P90X I have been struggling to carve out that chunk of time every day to exercise in front of the TV.

I know it's terrible so on Monday I decided to take action.  I have started to use Mark's program, Primal Blueprint Fitness, to great effect.  I haven't done a new set of measurements yet but I'm on day 4 and my energy level is improving steadily.  More importantly, I find myself more motivated to workout again.


Mark has made this program free to download and get started.  In it he advocates that you get at least three hours a week of movement/play and do two strength workouts which is very reasonable for even the most time constrained.  I appreciate that the program has a very good system for evaluating your current level of fitness so that you begin at the right level and don't get overwhelmed.  As a P90Xer I was a bit humbled during the evaluation but recognize that it is for the best that I work at the appropriate level.


Grok on.
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A few weeks ago Mark talked about using persistence hunting as a way to get some exercise while having fun.  Living in a suburb of Denver (Parker for those who care) there is still lots of wide open spaces it is possible to take this to a whole new level.  When I am out for evening walks with my SO discussing the events of the day and various and sundry topics that bring us closer together, deer are a common occurrence.  So common in fact that we literally walked up on  a pair of bucks and came within literally ten feet of them.  It was an interesting situation since neither party was particularly sure what to do.  Being the predators with forward facing eyes we quietly stalked away until they were comfortable going back to their evening snack.

With this experience fresh in my mind as I read Mark's article I decided that joggers would be far to easy.  Instead I have chosen to stalk wild animals.  Not hunt, trap, annoy or assault but simply stalk them.  The domesticated deer in the neighborhood have proven to be far too easy while on foot so I have taken to stalking wilder herds by mountain bike.  This is a ton of fun to say the least.  There really is something very primal about paralleling a herd at dusk; trying to stay stealthy quiet yet keep up.  You don't get to make any gear changes and you're forced to choose the quietest path which isn't necessarily the easiest.
 
The other target that has proven to be worthy adversary is stalking foxes.  These mangy little critters have moves like you wouldn't believe.  I've only tracked them by foot so far but they are proving to be far more elusive and crafty than deer.  It is far tougher to track a predator and is an absolute blast as exercise.
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I have not been terribly diligent in updating this site.  Sorry gang, I'll try to do better.  The good news is that we are now at the 5 month mark and I am clocking in at 50 pounds lost.  50 pounds!  That's the typical 6 six year old that has melted off of my body.  I have certainly had my fair share of missteps along the way, carb laden days and trips where the choice is between a cuban sandwich or a cinnabon but I've knocked out 50 pounds.

For those of you that are on the fence about embracing a primal lifestyle, I say quit waffling and get a copy of the "Primal Blueprint" today.  Not tomorrow, not someday but today.  If you won't do it for you 
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30 pounds lost 04/12/2010
 
These past few weeks have been insanely busy.  I've had a schedule full of business items, the job search and many a personal issue yet somehow I am now down a total of 30 pounds.  30 pounds?!?  It is absolutely insane to me that I've hit this number only a little over five weeks into the process.  What makes it even crazier is that I have been too busy to consistently stick with my P90x routine yet the weight keeps coming off.


This caveman is getting leaned out.  Fast. 
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Quickie update 03/23/2010
 
I've been incredibly busy lately but wanted to provide a quick update.  In the short period of time since I've started on this journey, I have somehow managed to lose 20 pounds.  If the trusty Tanita body composition scale is to be believed, the majority of that is straight up body fat.  Most interesting to me is that my energy level and appetite have never been better.  I literally sprang out of bed this morning at 5:15 ready to take on the world.
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I discussed my my new workout regime on Monday and described how I am mixing P90X with being primal.  As it turns out I get the Mark's Daily Apple newsletter in my inbox today and low and behold Mark has an article on the usage of crossfit and P90x with the primal lifestyle.

Mark has many a good thing to say about each of the fitness plans and covers how they are very popular with other followers of Grok.  In terms of issues, he discusses how he isn't sure how sustainable doing P90x is over the long run after fitness goals are met and I have to agree with him.  That being said though, I have a long way to go until that is the issue.  Looking forward however, I could see replacing some of the cardio routines with long hikes or runs when the weather is nice.  I also have a feeling that Yoga X will eventually get monotonous after round one is complete but I have a Bikram yoga place around the corner and know several Iyengar instructors so I'm not too concerned about alternatives.  Considering that my right arm got to failure doing the second round of Congdon curls during Shoulders & Arms today,

Read the article for yourself and be sure to share your comments below.  Thanks.
Link to article on Mark's Daily Apple.
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